Aditya-L1 Mission Launches Successfully : It will orbit at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation, achieved another milestone with the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission, India's first solar mission. On September 2, 2023, at 11:50 a.m., the 44.4-meter-tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. This Aditya-L1 mission is a significant step after the successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar expedition.

Aditya L1 Launch|Photo by : Isro Offical

Aditya-L1's mission is to study the Sun from a unique perspective. It will orbit at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, which is just about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. This special orbit is known as a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, which is the closest point to the Sun.

One of the key objectives of this Aditya-L1 mission is to capture images of the Sun for scientific research. It will stay in Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five maneuvers to gain the necessary velocity for its journey to the Sun.

What's fascinating is that Aditya-L1 will utilize one of the five Lagrangian points between the Earth and the Sun, which are like parking areas in space where objects can stay with minimal fuel consumption. This is an efficient way for spacecraft to operate.

Read - How Aditya L1 Explore Sun

Although this PSLV-C57/ Aditya-L1 mission is one of ISRO's longest missions, it's worth noting that the longest PSLV mission to date is still the 2016 PSLV-C35 mission, which took two hours, 15 minutes, and 33 seconds to complete after liftoff.

In summary, the Aditya-L1 mission launch marks a significant achievement for India's space exploration efforts, as it embarks on a historic journey to study the Sun from a unique vantage point in space.

──── End ────